From the Beginning, then
by Alayna Black
Summary: The Marauders; what probably didn't happen, and what might have. You work out what's what.  AN; this is just fun. enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**I've decided just to re-post this as it is. I didn't want to change any of it, for personal reasons more than anything. This was the first half-serious attempt at a Harry Potter fiction of mine that was a decent length. It's just a bit of fun. Apart from the main characters, i've just had fun with it, just messed around. I don't for one second imagine this is what might have happened in their lives. It might get more serious towards the end, I dont know. I haven't written it yet. Please just enjoy it, laugh at it, I don't mind. **

**And just to clarify, I'm not JK Rowling, but damn do I wish i was. I also don't own any characters except for those you dont recognise, coz they are mineee. **

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"Psst...It's them"

"He looks like the rest of them...all bad, I tell you."

The whispers followed the Black family that morning. Their son, Sirius, was due to begin his first day at Hogwarts. His father's hand clamped upon his shoulder, they had steered him along the platform in search of an area where more respectable students would be boarding the train.

"Now, son" Walburga started, stiffly. "No half-bloods, no mudbloods, no half-breeds and –" She lowered her face to that of her anxious son and said, venomously, "definitely no Gryffindors."

"Yes mum" the boy piped in response. "See you at Christmas!" He jumped aboard the train with seconds to spare before it began moving off, and he set off down the train to find a compartment.

The boy did come across one room, where two boys watched in awe as another appeared to be telling them a rather animated story. They looked like fun, so he slid the door open and poked his head into the compartment.

"Mind if I join you?" The boy with jet black hair and glasses stood up immediately, cementing his place as leader, and walked a few paces towards him. "Only, everywhere else is full, and I-"

"Who are you?" The boy demanded. "You look like a-"

"Black, Sirius...Black" his voice dropped slightly when he saw the looks he was being given. "Never mind, I guess i'll just find somewhere else..." he dropped his head and closed the door behind him. He sighed – making friends with people who weren't going to become death eaters wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

Sirius spent the remainder of the journey slumped in the main corridor of the train, twirling his new wand sadly between his fingers. It was relief to him when the train came to a halt and they were allowed to exit to the platform. Of course, he was not going to be seen as a loser, so he pushed himself from the floor with enough force as to nearly send himself flying up through the ceiling, before making his way from the train, making sure he was noticed.

"Excuse me – move! – Black coming through, everybody bend and scrape..." he laughed inwardly at how he had accurately depicted the main attitude of his family in one short sentence. This display definitely earned him more scowls than respect, but his general philosophy was – at least they were talking about him.

His stomach sank, however, as he sat on the dreaded stool, and the sorting hat fell over his eyes, beginning to speak quietly to him.

"_Hmm..another Black. I know just what to do- but wait...there's something more. Something brave, something loyal, some intellect...my, my, you would do well in all of these houses but which?"_

"Anything but Gryffindor, please" he thought desperately, wondering what his family would do.

"_But Mr Black, not Gryffindor? You appear to have a thirst for rebellion..perhaps then...GRYFFINDOR!" _The hat shouted the last word to the great hall, and a stunned silence fell. This never happened. Sirius hastily ripped the hat from his head, storming from the hall. He would not sit at that table. Furiously, he made his way through the castle until he found a quiet, hidden area. Then his frustrations took hold of him. He let out a scream of frustration. He wasn't sure which was worse, the fact that he was now in Gryffindor and would face extreme consequences at home, or the fact that deep down...he knew the hat was right. As this though occurred to him, a childish laugh escaped him – he just admitted defeat, at the hands of an old hat. He sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he should probably go to the common room and his new dormitory, and slowly made his way through the corridors. He hadn't realised how late it had got.

"Detention." Said an icy voice from behind him. "Out of bed after hours. You will receive notice, Mr...Black."

Sirius sighed. What else could possibly go wrong today? As he reached the portrait that concealed the entrance to Gryffindor tower, he realised that he did not know the password. The Fat Lady looked at him enquiringly, before he muttered "don't look at me like that" and slumped to the ground, leaning against the wall as he fell into a light slumber.

Somebody shook him awake after what seemed like minutes, but had apparently been hours.

"What." He snapped.

"Oi mate, it's time for breakfast. Come with us and we'll tell you the password." Sirius looked up and saw the black haired boy from the train looking down at him. "I'm James, by the way."

Sirius thought no more of his strange change in behaviour, but went with the boy to breakfast, regardless of his feeling that food would just cause him to vomit. Violently.

"Why are you-" Sirius started, in a low voice, so as not to allow anybody else to hear his conversation.

"Because" James started, through a mouthful of egg and bacon, "you ended up here. Despite your family's...reputation" he used the word delicately. "I came to the conclusion that you were different." James shrugged, helping himself to more toast.

"Thanks" Sirius said, and James nodded in response. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all.

The two boys made their way lazily to their first lesson, revelling in the fact that they seemed to have rather a lot in common, with particular regards to their sense of humour. What they didn't find particularly funny was the detention they received on turning up late.

"That's my second detention, and I haven't even done anything yet!" Sirius moaned, falling into an empty seat, whilst James did the same next to him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" They heard from across the room as class resumed. James' mouth fell open slightly, as a red haired girl perfectly performed the spell. Something must have snapped in James' head during the few moments he had been staring at her.

"Hey!" he shouted loudly. "I can do it, too. Wingardium Leviosa!" he yelled, and his feather launched itself into the air with what, if it hadn't been a feather, could well have been a sense of fear. Next thing he knew, he woke up with his face on his desk, Sirius laughing dementedly next to him. "Wha..who...wha..." James mumbled.

"She...hit you in the head...with a book...levitated it..." Sirius managed between laughing and gasping for air. James merely looked confused, with a slight expression of annoyance hanging over his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius found, as the weeks went by, that living in Gryffindor tower wasn't half as bad as he had imagined. True, he had received several howlers in relation to his placing, that threatened severe consequences upon his arrival home, however Sirius seemed to have stopped caring. Sometimes he frowned as he listened to their whispered conversations at night, but mostly he realised that the three other boys in his dorm didn't really mind who he was, and what his background was. James was, however, the only one who seemed to act normally around him.

Unconcerned and with a slightly bored look on his face, he mostly took to draping himself over one of the armchairs by the fire in the common room, whilst being secretly amused at James' attempts to talk to the fiery red-head he had encountered in his first lesson. They had since learned that her name was Lily Evans, and now James would adopt a soppy look on his face whenever she was mentioned, until somebody gave him a good hard smack.

The year passed mostly without event, aside from the routine detentions James and Sirius received for tardiness, and the box filled with a rather nasty smelling liquid that brought nasty boils up all over Sirius' arm that he received for Christmas from his parents. Charming, he had thought, and sent them back a rather rude piece of his mind. The recollection of this even later in the year as his birthday approached was greeted with a sigh, and the now familiar sinking feeling he felt at the thought of having to return home.

"Sirius." James said thoughtfully, after completing a transfiguration essay in a record ten minutes.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking up from where he had been reading about werewolves.

"I dunno if you would want to but I ...it's just, your family, and er...do you want to stay with me, for a bit, in summer?"

"Duh." Sirius replied, punching his friend's arm playfully. "Thanks" he added grimly, before starting to laugh. James looked confused, and glanced questioningly at his friend. "Why are we sat in here...studying?"

"Er..." James said in response, looking dazed as he looked across the room. "Well, you see-"

"No." Sirius said flatly. "I don't. And I'm bored. Let's go do something."

"I..um. Yeah, you're right." He said. Sirius looked shocked. With Evans in the room, he didn't think he would get such a quick consent.

They found Remus and Peter, who still eyed Sirius with something a little like suspicion, before the four of them made their way down to the edge of the lake, the surface of which glittered rather oddly in the sun. Slumping down in the shade of a tree, James began, once again, telling the other two one of his (very obviously false) stories about saving cats and muggles from trees on his broomstick – at which Remus laughed, but Peter looked at him in admiration, eyes shining. Sirius snorted when he saw this, before resting his head back against the tree, becoming lost in his thoughts again. He snapped back to reality, however, when he realised he had never asked...

"Why don't you trust me?" Sirius pointed the question at Remus more than Peter, who still felt himself recoil a little at the bitterness in Sirius' voice.

"Er..." Remus started, looking at James quickly.

"Oh." Sirius said. "You all have some little secret that i'm not allowed in on. Because I'm...a black?" He finished.

Remus hung his head slightly. "I'm sorry. It's just that..." he sighed, somewhat as a sign of defeat. "I'm going back to the dorm." He stated, before getting up and leaving the three of them, Sirius looking after him in a rather puzzled way, whereas James looked merely...concerned.

"Oi, Black!" He heard a female voice shout. "Having fun with your blood traitor friends?"

Sirius regained that sinking feeling in his stomach that he had become so accustomed to. Narcissa. He stood up wearily, walking over to her.

"It's not my fault. And James and Peter – they're not that bad...I actually-"

"Shhh!" She hissed. "How dare you?" Anger flashed in her eyes, and Sirius was slightly taken aback. He had known that the rest of his family were obsessed by the concept of pure blood, but he hadn't expected this.

"They're my friends, I-" she silenced him with a well placed spell, blasting him backwards to slam into the tree he had previously been leant against. He had hit his head quite nastily and felt one of the boys around him move, flashing lights behind his drooping eyelids. Peter watched his friends with interest, watching as Sirius passed out and slid to lay on the ground, watching as James tackled Narcissa and her friends single handedly.

"Thanks for the backup, Peter." James said coldly as the nurse cleaned up his wounds. Peter only mumbled something in reply about how he thought James had it under control.

Later, they found Sirius angrily throwing things into his trunk. Judging by the tatters of clothes that were strewn across the floor, he had attempted to pack magically and through his emotions, could not focus enough and burnt many of his things. The other three boys made their way cautiously into the room.

"Er...Sirius? School doesn't end for another few weeks yet..." Remus said uncertainly.

"I know." Came the heavy response. He gave his trunk a hefty kick, causing the lid to fall down shut with a bang. "I have to go home."

James looked at his friend, expecting to see anger lined across the boy's twelve year old face, but saw nothing but indifference. "Er...ok...but you're still going to come stay with me right?" he finished, trying to sound bright but failed, letting a little bit of worry escape.

Sirius only shrugged. He had to go back. And he didn't know if he would be allowed to return. He half remembered the angry words of his Mother and the somewhat half-hearted words of his Father as he gazed into space, his eyes losing focus. He looked at his watch, very conscious of the three sets of eyes set on his back. "I have to go home." He repeated, following his statement this time with a sigh.

By the time the other three boys woke up the next morning, he had gone.


	3. Chapter 3

The twelve-year-old Sirius lay on his bed in the darkness, staring across at his wall. No letters, not

one. He picked at his old bed sheets through boredom, trying not to recall any of this summer's

events. On arriving home, his father's vice-like grip on the back of his neck had shoved him through

the house to where his mother waited._ Crucio, _she had whispered as his father held him there.

When the pain finally ended, she spoke in a hollow, monotonous voice. _You will go to your room,_

_and you will stay there. You will not eat, you will not speak. I will not be aware of your presence. Do_

_you understand me?_ Sirius had whimpered as his dad pushed him towards the stairs, and began to ascend them slowly. His younger brother, Regulus, had been peeping out of his bedroom door fearfully as he watched his elder brother. _It'll be ok, Reg, _Sirius had whispered, only half believing his words, _You'll be ok. _From then on, he had been in this very position, day after day, drifting in and out of sleep. He had, on occasion, attempted to summon food from the kitchen. Despite his ability in doing this, hearing the food pound against his bedroom door, his parents' response was not one of joy at his ability, but severe beatings. Remembering his, one of the wounds on his cheek began to sting, as if reminding him of his appearance.

"Why hasn't he replied?" James whined at his parents one morning over breakfast. "I must have sent Jules at least 10 times." He sat, head resting on his palm boredly, swirling Coco Pops around in their pool of milk.

"I'm sure he's just busy, Jamie." His mother said, although the glance she shared with his father seemed to tell a different story. Their son, however, picked up on this.

"What?" He looked between them. "Tell me!...I mean, could you...er..." he stumbled, remembering his manners in talking to his parents, before deciding it wasn't worth it, and flashed them a smile. "please?"

"Jamie, it's just...his Mother, she er..." his father started, realising just how much James had sounded like him only moments before. "Probably wanted him in Slytherin." He had a rather grim look on his face, indicating that this was not quite where the story ended, but James decided not to push it.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mum." He said, getting up from the table and rushing away. He faintly heard his mother calling after him that he had barely eaten, however soon he was in the garden shed, hunting out his broomstick. He summoned his invisibility cloak, deciding his parents would sort out his use of underage magic, and threw it over himself before kicking off from the ground.

It was only during his time in the air that James realised he had absolutely no idea where Sirius lived, having never asked. He flew low over a likely looking street, swooping and weaving around the lampposts lining the pavement, laughing quietly to himself as a few muggles looked around for the source of a mysterious light breeze. Reaching the end of the street, James spotted the street name. _Grimmauld Place._ "Grim is right", he muttered quietly as he looked around the dingy street. He tugged the invisibility cloak off himself and wrapped his broom in it, tucking the object under his arm. James walked a little way along the path, tucking his hands in his pockets and wondering to himself how he was supposed to find Sirius. Then-

"I don't know what to do about him, Orion." A woman sighed. James stood still just out of sight of the window from which the conversation was drifting. "He's talented but I don't know why he doesn't put it to better use. Ungrateful-" The last word was said with some force and a loud bang echoed in the room.

"You know, Walburga, he means well." The man said, rather awkwardly James thought. "Maybe Dumbledore will-"

"Dumbledore!" The woman had raised her voice. "Muggle sympathiser, dirtying the wizarding world, that man is just as much a disgrace as our son, I don't know why we're sending Reggie there."

James' heart had started pounding in his chest. He knew he had found the house, and with a quick glance around him, unwrapped his broom from the invisibilitycloak and hid under it once again. He looked up, trying to find a way in, but resolved to the fact he would simply have to walk in the front door. His hand shook as he reached for the door handle, praying that the door wouldn't creak as he let himself in. It didn't. James moved slowly up the stairs, looking around for any sign of Sirius. He found one, but it wasn't the boy himself. James edged into the room slowly, keeping as silent as possible, gazing at the huge tapestry.

"It's quite something, isn't it?" an amused male voice spoke from the doorway. James looked around in astonishment, looking at the man. "You can take that cloak off if you like, Mr Potter. I don't bite." James did as the man said, adjusting his glasses, heart pounding, and tightened his grip on his broom in case he needed a quick getaway.

"Mr-Mr Black, I..." James started, but the man held up a hand.

"No need." He stepped into the room a little further, and began pointing out names on the tapestry. "That's where my niece, Andromeda should be. Pleasant girl...of course, Walburga blasted her off because she married a muggle-born. Her sisters, Bellatrix and Narcissa. Cissy isn't really that bad but I'm afraid Bella has inherited some of my Wife's more...intense moods, shall we say." He laughed quietly to himself before looking at James. "There's Sirius." He said, pointing at the tapestry and sighing slightly. "Again..." he mimed blasting the tapestry. "Most unfortunate."

"Sir," James started, unsure of what to say or do. "I was just, well, I was just worried because-"

"I never miss a trick, Mr Potter." He tapped his nose and winked. "For instance, I am well aware of

your spectacular broomstick display amongst the lampposts. I infer, then, that you were intending to

swoop by and rescue my son from his punishment?"

"I-er-that was the general plan" James admitted nervously.

"I thought as much. Now," he clamped a hand on James' shoulder rather tightly and escorted him

from the room and down the stairs, "honourable as your intentions were, I must ask you to leave.

Orion Black opened the front door and gave James a gentle nudge out of it, before whispering "go

around the back. Window upstairs, on the left".

"James Potter!" His mother shrieked as her son and the newly rescued Sirius Black landed on the

Potter's driveway half an hour later. "Where have you been!" She broke the stony look she was giving her son to look to the other boy. "Sirius, I assume. Go on inside, Charles is making bacon sandwiches for lunch" she smiled kindly¸ gesturing to the front door. Sirius nodded, "thanks, Mrs Potter", and left after giving James a slightly awkward look.

"Ah, Sirius" The man called Charles said as Sirius walked into the kitchen having followed the smell of bacon. "Good heavens, what happened to you? I'm surprised Alex hasn't been all over you, fixing you...ah, but I see she is otherwise engaged." He gestured to the window with a look of amusement.

Alex, or Alexandria, walked back into the house looking rather exasperated, James walking in after her with a grin on his face. "Oh for heaven's sake, James, sit down." She said, before looking at Sirius. "Oh dear...oh, dear...have some food, dear" she sighed, taking the plate of sandwiches from her husband and placing them on the kitchen table, "you look half-starved. Then I'll see about healing you up."

The two twelve-year-old boys exchanged a happy look before they began to devour the food in front of them.


	4. Chapter 4

After a good few weeks of Alexandria Potter feeding and looking after him, Sirius was looking both much happier and much healthier. He and James had spent a good amount of their summer playing Quidditch in the garden and exploring the local area, and to the both of them it seemed like their friendship was now forever. The two boys had met up with Remus and Peter in Diagon Alley to get their school things, and whilst Remus still seemed a little odd and edgy around Sirius, the four seemed to get on better than ever.

Soon, though, it was time to board the Hogwarts Express for the second time. Sirius, of course, couldn't be happier for he now had another year away from his parents. He had momentarily forgotten that his younger brother Regulus would be starting Hogwarts this year.

"Crap..." he muttered, as the Potters and himself approached the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, having just noticed his family disappear to 9 ¾. He swallowed before he and James were ushered through by Alex and Charles. Luckily, on appearing the other side, the Black family were nowhere to be seen. The two boys loaded their trunks onto the train before returning to say goodbye to James' parents.

"Thanks, Mr Potter, Mrs Potter...it's been a good summer" Sirius nodded slightly, his anxiety present in the way he stood and spoke.

"It's been our pleasure, son" Charles replied, his wife's warm smile echoing his words. "Anytime."

Mrs Potter took one last chance to attempt the flattening of her Son's hair before-

"Sirius Orion Black!" A shrill voice made its way through the smoke now billowing from the train as it prepared for departure. Sirius paled and James shoved him forwards onto the train, hopping on after him. After finding Remus sat alone in a compartment and so joining him, James waved goodbye to his parents whilst the train left the platform. Walburga Black stood as a statue, glaring at the other dark-haired boy beside him.

"Good Summer?" James grinned at Remus as he sat back in his seat. "I did. It was amazing. I went to save Sirius from his awful tyrannical Mother, on my broom! Only I couldn't his house to begin with, so I thought i'd do a bit of swooping and looping to pass time, turns out I was right outside it the whole time! And then I snuck in, like a mouse, and...well, then his dad found me, but he's-"

"Great, James. My summer was great." Remus interrupted his friend's story. "Have either of you two seen Peter?"

"S-s-sorry, guys, I was late, and then I ended up all the way down the end of the platform and well, it was just a disaster, but what did I miss?" A rather flushed looking Peter Pettigrew made his entrance into the compartment, hurriedly making his excuses.

"Only James' glorious rendition of how he abducted me." Sirius said dryly¸ resuming his usual bored personality.

"What did you get up to this summer, Pete?" Remus asked.

"Oh, nothing really. Went on holiday to Cornwall. Pretty bleak." The boy shrugged, the words sounding abnormal to him as he attempted to imitate his friends' indifferent attitudes.

Sirius' clear disinterest in anything Peter had to say was obvious in how he almost cut Peter off when he jumped from his seat, pulling open the compartment door and yelling down the corridor "Oi, Snivellus! Come back here and clean up this greasy slime you're leaving behind!" Back in the corridor, James had started laughing before getting up to join his friend at the door. "Yeah, someone's going to get a serious injury from this...Oh!" James exclaimed in mock suprise as Severus made his way back towards the two boys. "I think..." he put a hand to his chin thoughtfully, looking at Sirius, who completed the sentence, "It's going to be you."

"Depulso!" They shouted together, pointing their wands at the boy's chest, sending him crashing into the wall at the other end of the carriage with a bang, followed by a rather sickening crack. Sirius and James quickly threw themselves back inside the compartment as one of the Ravenclaw Prefects headed down the corridor to sort out the commotion, the former starting a rather excellent impression of the look on 'Snivellus' face as he flew to the end of the train.

"Hurt Snivellus, check, detention...not yet, but for fun, check..." Remus said with half a smile on his face.

James snorted. "We know you'd join in, Lupin, if you didn't want to damage your chances of being prefect in a few years..."

The train soon pulled into Hogsmeade station, and the students headed towards where the carriages waited, aside from the first years, who travelled by boat.

"Mr Black and Mr Potter, if you could remain behind, please." A hand reached out to stop them joining Remus and Peter in a carriage. The boys looked up to find themselves face to face with their head of house, Minerva McGonagall. "Not off to a good start, are we?" She asked them.

"I thought so." Sirius said, with an air of pride in his voice. "Obviously, I was wrong" he rushed, seeing the look on McGonagall's face.

"Well boys, i'm not going to give you detention." She said, and Sirius and James exchanged looks of almost delight. "But you are going to help the house-elves take "I thought so." Sirius said, with an air of pride in his voice. "Obviously, I was wrong" he rushed, seeing the look on McGonagall's face.

"Well boys, i'm not going to give you detention." She said, and Sirius and James exchanged looks of almost delight. "But you are going to take your own trunks to your dormitories. And those of Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew. Without magic."

"Could've been worse." James muttered to Sirius as the two boys lugged the four trunks up several flights of moving stairs.

"She'll probably write to our parents though." Sirius said, looking rather glum.

"Well, i'll be alright. They've got a year to cry me a river and get over it." James said, making his friend grin, which slowly slid off his face as he thought of his own.

"Yeah well, my parents will probably use my blood to create a river, all down the stairs of Grimmauld Place. _Flitterbloom." _The portrait to Gryffindor Tower swung forward to let them in, and they continued on their way to the boy's dormitory.

"Did anything nice happen in the few weeks you spent with your family?" James said, trying to get his friend's mind off his possible consequences.

"Well, my cousin Dromeda is having a kid." Sirius shrugged.

"The one that married a muggle-born?"

"Yeah, that's her. Mum blasted her off our family tree. I guess creating a half-blood was the last straw for dear old Mrs Black." Sirius finished his sentence on a slightly bitter note, slamming Peter's trunk to the ground by the boy's bed, then kicking his own across the room to his bed.

"Dinner?"

"Dinner."


End file.
